Tsukishima Gets a Cat
by The May Waters
Summary: Tsukishima had never stopped to consider a world where Yamaguchi wasn't gay—except now he must.


Tsukishima Gets a Cat

SI Foote

Summary: Tsukishima had never stopped to consider a world where Yamaguchi wasn't gay—except now he must.

-oOo-

"I like you." Tsukishima Kei exclaimed. The blond didn't expect to be on this side of the situation. He never planned on falling for the little boy getting bullied. Kei never meant to fall in love with his best friend.

"Tsukki," Yamaguchi Tadashi whispered. His voice cracked and Tsukishima didn't want to look up from his position on his friend's bedroom floor. "I'm not gay."

The words came out barely above a whisper, but it didn't matter the volume—if Tadashi had yelled the sentence it would've shattered Kei's heart all the same.

"Right, I should've known." He swallowed slowly. "I'm going to go home for now."

"Tsukki," Yamaguchi tried to protest.

"It's probably for the best. I wasn't doing my homework anyway." He shoved handfuls of his things into his bag without any regard for making them look nice. He willed his brown eyes to stay dry behind his glasses, at least until he was out of the Yamaguchi household.

"You don't have to go."

"It's better if I do right now." He pushed open Tadashi's door and led himself out of the house.

Two sentences rang through his head as he walked home.

 _Yamaguchi's not gay. I was rejected._

When he stepped into his house, Akiteru poked his head out of the living room.

"Hey Kei," he greeted. Tsukki glanced up at his brother. He was no longer able to push back his tears and his eyes started welling up. Akiteru tried to break the moment with a joke. "Are you that excited to see your older brother?"

"I'm going to my room." Kei tightened his hand on the strap of his bag, but a warm hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"What's wrong?" Akiteru was rarely this serious. "Do you want to talk in your room where mom isn't?"

Tsukki nodded slowly and let his brother lead him up the stairs. Tsukishima sat on the chair to his desk when they got in the room while Akiteru placed himself on the bed.

"I got rejected." Kei mumbled.

"I didn't know you liked anyone that way."

"I didn't have a reason to tell you."

"Is she pretty?"

" _He's_ attractive." Tsukki shrugged.

"Ah, Yamaguchi." Akiteru didn't bat an eye at the revelation. Kei had the feeling that his older brother knew before, but didn't want to embarrass him and went for a more common option.

"You knew." He accused.

"It was pretty obvious. Despite how you always tell him to shut up you're always hanging out at his house and staying over." Akiteru shrugged. "If I'd had to guess, I would've said that he liked you back."

"I told him I like him and he said he's not gay."

"Want me to set you up with one of my hot college friends so you can rub it in his face?"

"No, it's fine." He grabbed a tissue from the desk and wiped at his eyes before throwing it in the trash.

"I've got a free day tomorrow so I'll come hang out with you at practice."

"Please don't." Kei requested.

"You're not shaking me." Akiteru pointed at his little brother. "Get some rest tonight, you have to walk to school with Yamaguchi."

"Kill me." Tsukishima groaned.

-oOo-

"Tsukishima's older brother?" Hinata asked loudly when the adult showed up. He had a darker shade of blond, with some brown bleeding in, into the color of his hair.

"You can call me Akiteru to reduce confusion since you're friends with Kei." Akiteru smiled at the short ball of sunshine. "I was on Karasuno's team a few years ago."

"What's Akiteru doing here?" Suga whispered to Yamaguchi.

"I don't know, Tsukki didn't tell me anything when we walked to school this morning."

"Kei, come here and I'll help you practice blocking." Akiteru tried to call him over.

"No thanks." Tsukishima turned away from his older brother.

"So mean, Kei."

For the next few days, Akiteru continued to attend practice with his brother—until he had to return to classes at University.

"Will you be alright?"

"I'll be fine nii-san." Tsukki rolled his eyes. Akiteru stood by the front door. He had a suitcase in one hand and was preparing to catch the train back to Tokyo.

"Call me if anything happens, okay?"

"I will."

"I'll come watch your games in Tokyo."

"Only if you're not working." Kei corrected softly.

"I'll make sure I'm not working." Akiteru winked at him. "Find someone new, okay?"

"Sure." Tsukishima agreed softly.

-oOo-

"You're sure you don't know what's going on with Tsukishima?" Suga cornered Yamaguchi one day after practice. Tsukishima was still acting strange and he was actively avoiding the pinch server. Everyone could tell something happened between the two.

"I don't know if I should tell you since it involves Tsukki." Tadashi confessed.

"I promise not to let him or the others know." Kōshi pushed.

"He confessed to me and I rejected him." Yamaguchi said quickly. The words blurred together and Suga nearly missed what the first year told him.

"That's more than I expected." He admitted softly. "I suppose we'll just have to wait this situation out. I'll tell Daichi to be patient."

"Right." Yamaguchi nodded and then dribbled the volleyball against the floor.

-oOo-

"Hey, what's up with your blond bombshell?" Kuroo asked when the two teams met at Nationals for the first time.

"Broken heart." Suga waved it off. "He still plays brilliantly so we're not worried."

"Kuro," Kenma tugged on the captain's sleeve. "You have an opportunity to confess to him now."

"Not on a broken heart." Tetsūro shook his head. "Plus I don't know who he confessed to. It could be a girl."

"Look how he's separated from Yamaguchi. I can tell you right now that he confessed to his childhood friend." Kozume argued.

"We'll talk later." Kuroo ruffled his own friend's hair and the setter looked annoyed. He stepped up next to Tsukishima. "I'm looking forward to annihilating you later this week."

"Can't wait to see you try." Tsukki scoffed.

"You like playing volleyball now," Nekoma's captain was startled at the revelation.

"Ushijima was a bitch to block against." Kei shrugged.

"I knew you liked playing." Kuroo put a hand into the younger's man's hair and he realized that the first year was several centimeters taller than him. "How tall are you?"

"One-hundred-and-ninety-one." He was proud of the number and he tipped his chin up to show his dominating height.

"You should get a cat."

"What?" Tsukishima's eyebrows shot toward his hairline.

"Just a thought." Kuroo hit his back before returning to his team. He waved to their friends and opponents. "See you when we whoop your asses, Karasuno."

"He told me to get a cat." Kei turned to the third years. The three of them shrugged.

-oOo-

"Do you want a cat yet, Mr. Crow?" Kuroo asked from behind his favorite middle blocker.

"Not really, they're cocky and annoying. Plus they scratch your furniture." Tsukishima tipped his head back to look at the opposing captain instead of turning around.

"I can't say for the first two, but I definitely don't scratch furniture."

"Huh?" Kei whipped around and found his lips connected with Tetsūro's. It was several moments before the third year pulled away.

"You won't get anywhere with cocky, but I can try to annoy you less."

Tsukishima's face was bright red and his response mumbled. "You were never annoying."

"I got that going for me then." Kuroo gave the first year a sly smile and in the next moment he found himself kissing the blond again.

"I didn't know you liked me." Kei whispered.

"Way too much." He pressed a soft kiss at the corner of the blond's mouth.

"I didn't know I liked you either."

"Rude." Kuroo bit his jaw, hard.

"Just kiss me." Tsukishima grabbed Tetsūro's annoying black hair and yanked his head back.

"You got a cat." The captain chuckled.

"Shut up."


End file.
